The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 181 is up Atomic Power Review Brave New Climate looks at radiation damage to DNA. Researchers last year at MIT subjected mice to 400 times the background rate of radiation for about 6 months. They estimated it would add 12 pieces of extra damage every day to each normal 10,000 …
Some coal is high in fluorine and also has iron pyrite. The combination is deadly – when burned it make hydrofluoric acid. (H/T Chris Phoenix Excess fluorine consumption can often cause dental fluorinosis, a condition in which excess fluorine is deposited in the teeth, discoloring them. In more severe cases, fluorine deposition in the bones …
A Case Western Reserve University proposal for a low-cost, energy-efficient method to extract the strategic metal titanium from ore has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy for contract negotiations. This one-year project will be funded by ARPA-E at about $675K through the program on Modern Electro/Thermo-chemical Advances in Light-metal …
Norwegian biologist Joakim Hauge wants to green the deserts using greenhouses that are cooled by seawater. They plan to grow 1200 cucumbers per square metre per year in new greenhouses. In March, temperatures outside were in the 30s (celsius), but in the low 20s in the greenhouse. In August, it can reach 50 °C outside, …
The most advanced system today for extracting uranium from seawater employs plastic fibers with uranium-binding chemical groups grafted onto their surface. Now, researchers led by Wenbin Lin, a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have designed a metal-organic framework (MOF) to collect common uranium-containing ions dissolved in seawater. In …
1000 to 3000 watts of solar power that operate stand alone as well as on the grid can be used to provide power during a power outage and provide lower electrical costs at other times. 200 watt standalone solar is $400 or less. 400 watts is $700 or less. 2200 watts can be had for …
Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the internet startup ResearchGate yesterday. ResearchGate was founded in 2008 by the physicians Dr. Ijad Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer along with computer specialist Horst Fickenscher. Four years later, more than 2.5 million researchers publish their findings, distribute them worldwide, and make a name for themselves on ResearchGate. The company has …
Arxiv – Thermionics (electronics for converting heat to electricity) previously had efficiency limitations due to “space current” – build-ups of electrons mutually repelling each other and choking the flow of current – so the new system uses external electric or magnetic fields to get the electrons going in the right direction. The system promises a …
Syrian state television said that military command had confirmed a “scientific research centre” north-west of Damascus was struck at dawn on Wednesday, causing damage. Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site, which was engaged in “raising the level of resistance and self-defence”. Earlier, diplomatic and security sources were cited …
Unit 1 of the Hongyanhe plant in Liaoning province in northeast China has moved closer to commissioning by achieving a sustained chain reaction. The 1080 MWe reactor achieved first criticality on 16 January, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) and China Power Investment Corp (CPI) reported. Construction of Hongyanhe 1 – the first of four …
Wired Danger Room provides an update on the deployment of the first US Navy Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) around Singpore. The ships costs $670 million each and the Navy plans to get 55 of them. The ship currently has some big problems related to operating after taking one good hit, shooting accurately and performing the …